Sand-distributer for railroads.



No. 7|o,|34." Patented Sept so, 1902. w. H. BELL.

SAND DISTBIBUTER FUR BAILRUADS.

(Application med May 7, 1902.

(No Model.)

mmssmsx 12%Y1' UNITED STATE PATENT @rrrcn.

l/VATSON H. BELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

SAN D-DISTRIBUTER FOR RAILROADS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,134, dated September 30, 1902.

Application filed May 7, 1902. Serial No. 106.362. (N0 model.)

To all w/wm it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WATSON H. BELL, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, hay e invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sand-Distributers for Railroads, of which the following is a specification suificient to enable others skilled in the art to which the invention appertains to make and use the same.

Myinvention relates to railway-cars which are supported upon trucks pivotally connected to the car body or frame, so that the truck is free to adapt itself to any curvature in the railway, as in the case of trolley and other street cars.

The sand-hoppers are necessarily, for convenience in filling and for other practical reasons, supported upon the body orframe of the car, and hence do not sustain a permanent position with relation to the track and wheels of the truck, since it is obvious that as the car passes around curves in the track its body cannot keep in alinement with the wheels of the truck, which swing freely on the kingbolt. Hence the sand-hopper and its spout are swung to one side or the other of the track, and if sand is released Whilethe car is going around a curve it will not fall upon the track, although in many cases it is most desirable that the curve portions of the track be thoroughly sanded in case of emergency. I am aware that it has been attempted to obviate this difficulty by the employment of a swinging and flexible tube connected with the sand-hopper on the car-body, but such devices have been found to be unreliable and impracticable in use.

My invention consists, essentially, in the combination, with an ordinary sand-hopper rigidly attached to the car body or frame, of a distributing-funnel rigidly secured to the wheel-truck, the spout of the funnel extending in close proximity to the periphery of a wheel and the mouth of the funnel being so formed with relation to the king-bolt which connects truck and car that the spout of the sand-hopper will always project above and within the mouth of said distributing-funnel whether the truck is running on a straight or curved track, as hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed specifically.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan of a truck provided with my new sanddistrihuting funnel; Fig. 2, asectional elevation illustrating the relation of my distributing-funnel to the ordinary sand-hopper on the body of the car. Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate modifications in the form of the mouth of my sand-distributing funnel.

A represents the body or framework of a car supported on trucks B, one only of which is shown, the connection being made by means of a king-bolt K, coupling the car-body bolster a) and the truck-bolster I) together in the ordinary and well-known manner. The wheels to and the framework of the truck are also of ordinary construction, the only novelty be ing my distributingfunnel C, rigidly attached, preferably, to the truck-bolster Z) in such relation to one of the wheels that its distributing-spout 0 projects in proximity to the periphery of said wheel, as indicated in Fig. 2.

In the construction illustrated in the drawings the distributing-funnel O is shown as supported upon a bracket d, secured to the truck-bolster 1). Its mouth a is so formed with relation to the position of the king-bolt K as-to be to all intents and purposes concentric theretothat is to say, the arc of a circle e, formed by a radial line 0', will always be included within the mouth 0 of the funnel, as illustrated diagrammatically in the drawings, the extent of the are e, and consequently of the mouth 0' of the funnel, being proportionate to the curves in the track which the car and truck have to traverse. In other words, thearc 6 will be at least equal in extent to the degree of lateral play or motion of the truck with relation to the car-body when turning on the king-bolt K as a center while passing over the curves in the track upon which the truck travels. It will thus be seen that by placing the ordinary sandhopper S upon the car-body A in such posi-' tion that its nozzle 3 is immediately over and in line with the are e, (preferably occupying the center of said are c When the car and truck are on a straight track,) as shown in the drawings, the connection between sandhopper S and funnel O is maintained under all conditions to all intents and purposes. Thus the relative arrangement of the parts is practically the same Whether the car is traveling on a straight or curved section of railway, since the nozzle 3 of the sand-hopper S will always be in a position to discharge sand into the mouth 0 of the distributingfunnel C.

The nozzle 5 of the hopper S is provided with a gate-valve s, operated by a rod 3 in the usual Way.

It is obvious that the actual external outline of the mouth 0 of the funnel O is of secondary importance, provided it includes the concentric are e, as shown diagrammatically in the drawings. Thus the mouth may be concentric, as in Fig. 1, oblong and rectangular as in Fig. 3, oval, as in Fig. 4, or of any other configuration Without departing from the spiritand intent of my invention in this respect, provided its areaincludes the are e of the circle prescribed by the curves in the track over which the car and truck have to travel. V

The advantages of my invention are obvious. By it a curved portion of track may be as quickly and accurately sanded as the straight portion, a result never before attained where the track and car-body have been pivotally connected by means of a kingbolt. In fact the curved portions of the track have been more dangerous than the straight portions, owing largely to the lack of available sand in case of emergency.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a car-body and truck pivotally connected by means of a kin gbolt, of a sand-distributing funnel rigidly secured to the truck and disposed angularly with relation to the line of travel of the same and arranged to conduct the sand to the track immediately adjoining the periphery of one of the wheels of said truck and a sand-hopper rigidly secured to the car-bodyin a prescribed relation to the said funnel and king-bolt, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination with a car-body and truck pivotally connected by means of a kingbolt, of a sand-distributing funnel rigidly secured to the truckand disposed angularly with relation to the line of travel of the same and formed with a mouth concentric with the said king-bolt, and a sand-hopper rigidly secured to the car-body in a prescribed relation to the sand-distributing funnel and king-bolt, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination of the sand-hopper S, rigidly secured to the car-body A, and provided with a suitable sand-releasing valve, the truck 13, pivotally secured to the car-body by a king-bolt K, and the sand-distributing funnel O, rigidly secured to the said truck B and disposed angularly to the line of travel, the parts being relatively arranged and operating substantiallyin the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

4. The combination of the car-body A, and truck B, pivotally connected by the king-bolt K, the sand-hopper S, rigidly secured to the car-body, and formed with the spout s and valve 8, and the distributing-funnel O, rigidly secured to the truck B and disposed angularly to the line of travel, and formed with the mouth 0', concentric with the king-bolt K, and with the-discharge-spout c, the whole arranged and operating substantially in the manner and for the purpose described.

VATSON I-I. BELL.

Witnesses:

D. W. GARDNER, F. E. ROACH. 

